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The Stowaway

from Up The Cut by Jon Wilks

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THE STOWAWAY [ROUD 6341]

Roy Palmer recorded the Staffordshire singer, George Dunn, singing this song on June 29th, 1971 – one of 14 sessions they did together over a period spanning five years.

I first heard 'The Stowaway' on George Dunn, Chainmaker, a double-disc album produced by MusTrad in 2002. Rod Stradling's notes tell us that this song was known to be in the repertoire of a music hall singer, Alice Maydue, and had been collected a couple of times in Canada, as well as being printed by a number of broadside sellers in the North of England. George Dunn learned it from his father, but his version was incomplete. The version I sing here was taken from a fuller set of lyrics found in the Bodleian Harding collection.

That this song has been overlooked by other singers of traditional songs surprises me. It has a phenomenal melody with great, soaring top lines. Perhaps it's the slightly mawkish sentiment in the lyrics that put them off. Either way, I found the tune difficult to ignore and it quickly became a bit of an ear-worm – one that I've found particularly difficult to shake. I hope you have the same issues.

lyrics

From Liverpool across the Atlantic
A big ship was sailing the deep
The stars shining brightly above us
And the water beneath us asleep
Not a bad-tempered mariner amongst us
And a jollier crew never sailed
Though the first mate's a bit of a savage
A fine seaman as ever man hailed

One day he comes up from below deck
And he's grasping a lad by the arm
A poor little ragged young urchin
That ought to have been with his ma
And the mate asks the boy pretty roughly
How he dared for to be stowed away
He's cheating the owners and captain
It's passage and board without pay

"My step-father brought me on board sir
When nobody else was on board
And he hid me away down the stairs there
For to keep me he could not afford
And he told me the big ship would take me
To Halifax town oh so far
He said, "Remember the Lord is your father
Who lives where the good angels are""

That's a lie, that's a lie, not your father
But one of the big skulkers here
Some milk-hearted, soft-headed sailor
Tell the truth now or die, do you hear?
Then that pair of blue eyes bright and winning
Clear and shining with innocent youth
Looks up at the mate's bushy eyebrows
And says, "Sir, I've been telling the truth"

Then the mate pulled a watch from his pocket
As though he was drawing a knife
"If in five minutes' time you don't speak, lad
Here's a rope and goodbye to your life
Three minutes had gone by in silence
Says the mate then, "Speak lad, say your say"
And the boy's eyes are filling with teardrops
And he faltering says, "May I pray?"

Then soft came the first words, "Our father"
Low and clear from the little lad's lips
But low, they were heard like a trumpet
By every man on that ship
Each word of that prayer that he went through
Through "forever and ever amen"
Not for all the bright gold in the Indies
I would not have heard them again

Off his feet was the lad sudden lifted
And clasped to the mate's rugged chest
And his husky voice muttered, "God bless you"
And his lips to his forehead he pressed
"You believe me now?" then says the youngster
"Believe you?" he kissed him once more
"You'd have laid down the life for the truth, lad
I believe you from now evermore"

credits

from Up The Cut, released February 12, 2021
Arranged, performed and recorded by Jon Wilks.

Mixed and mastered by Andi Lee, Kosi Studios.

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Jon Wilks Whitchurch, UK

'The sort of performer folk circles mean when they talk of the living tradition' - Mike Davies, Folking.com

“One of the best of the New Wave of Folk Blokes. As a guitar player and arranger of traditional songs, Jon Wilks already deserves speaking of in the same breath as your Simpsons and your Morays.” – Ian A. Anderson, fRoots Mag ... more

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